Sooners Upset No. 4 Texas, 4-3

By Athletics Communications

University of Oklahoma

MARCH 26, 2011

March 26, 2011

NORMAN, Okla. – Peerakit Siributwong clinched the match for the Oklahoma men’s tennis team as they opened Big 12 play in dramatic fashion by upsetting No. 4 Texas, 4-3, at the Headington Family Tennis Center Friday night.

“Wow, that is what college tennis is all about,” John Roddick said. “It came down to a great match where guys were literally having break-points the whole time, fighting back, getting nervous and fighting through it. Overall, I am just really proud of our guys. It was a great team effort.”

Roddick is now 2-1 against the Longhorns all-time. In the last meeting the Sooners ousted Texas from the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Athens, Ga., after defeating the Longhorns 4-2 in the Round of 16. Prior to that meeting OU had not beaten the Longhorns since 2005 when the Sooners claimed a 4-3 victory.

Oklahoma struck first by taking the doubles point after winning battles at the No. 2 and 3 positions.

Trailing 5-3 at the No. 2 spot, the Sooners’ Costin Paval and Peerakit Siributwong rallied to take down UT’s No. 28-ranked duo comprised of Kellen Damico and David Holiner, 8-6.

“It was huge as we played great at two and three tonight,” said Roddick. “At one, we fought hard and lost, but we played better there. That was the best we have played all year at three and two was pretty close to the best. I knew if we didn’t win the doubles point we could beat them, but it was going to be a heck of a lot harder.”

In singles, Texas came back to take the lead, 2-0, after winning at the No. 2 and 3 spots in straight-sets.

Oklahoma’s Formentera, a sophomore, evened the score after taking a straight-set victory at the No. 5 spot over UT’s Daniel Whitehead, 7-5, 6-4.

“Lawrence kept us in it by winning that early point at five,” Roddick said. “It was a great team effort.”

The Longhorns’ took their final lead of the night after UT’s 33rd-ranked Corrie defeated OU’s Beleleu, ranked No. 34, 7-6(2), 6-2, at the No. 1 spot.

With the match favoring the Longhorns’ all eyes turned to the final two matches at the No. 4 and 6 positions, where OU’s Siributwong and Tsvetan Mihov were battling Texas’ Mladenov and Sudanwa Sitaram, respectively.

At the No. 6 spot, Mihov dropped a heated first set 6-7(4) to Sitaram, but rallied to take the final two sets 6-2, 7-6(4). Following Mihov’s win the score was deadlocked at three.

In the night’s final match, OU’s Siributwong dropped his first set to Mladenov 6-4 but managed to fight off two match-points to eventually win the second-set tiebreaker, 7-6(7). The Thailand native trailed 4-2 in the third set, but rallied to take the final four points earn the win, 7-6.

“What an effort by Mihov and Siributwong at the end. They both played unbelievable and it was just a great way to end a tennis match,” Roddick added.

Roddick’s squad returns to the courts on Sunday at 1 p.m. when they take on No. 6 Texas A&M at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

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